Glasgow Caledonian
University
Churchman Landscape Architects have installed a new
learning focused landscape at Glasgow Caledonian University
as part of the recent transformation of the campus.
T
he project, known as the
Heart of Campus, took three
previously isolated and
largely forgotten courtyard
gardens and linked them
together through the
ground floor accommodation of the
surrounding buildings. The brutalist
1970’s facades of the teaching blocks
have been softened by a redressing of
58 Landscape & Urban Design
the architecture by Page Park
and by Churchman’s exuberant
landscape which imposes a
new organic aesthetic of curves
and sweeping geometries.
The new gardens will become
places in which to study but
also for students to meet
friends and colleagues, they
will in effect become the
“talking points” of the campus.
While they offer a means of
access to the buildings and an
area to sit outdoors, they will
also have an academic focus
which is rooted in the heritage
of West Scotland.
Over a period of three centuries
a succession of Scots explored
the globe discovering plants
hitherto unseen in the UK,
many of which have become
so commonplace that they
are now considered stalwarts